Lead/Staff Technical Program Manager

DigitalOcean

$148K — $217K *
Technical Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience as a Technical Program Manager managing hardware or data center projects.
  • Strong understanding of hardware deployment workflows from a cloud provider or colocation facility.
  • Familiarity with basic data center concepts such as rack space, power limits, and cooling needs.
  • Solid grasp of the procurement lifecycle involving tracking and forecasting hardware orders.
  • Basic knowledge of AI/ML hardware, especially differences in requirements for training vs. inference workloads.
  • Experience coordinating with external vendors, ensuring smooth execution of off-site work.
  • Strong risk management skills for identifying and addressing deployment risks early.
  • Cross-functional teamwork capabilities to bridge technical and operational teams effectively.
  • Proficiency in project management tools for tracking deployment progress and inventory.
  • Excellent communication and organization skills to manage diverse teams and timelines.

Responsibilities

  • Support hardware deployment projects, coordinating from early planning through final installation.
  • Manage delivery schedules, working closely with supply chain teams to ensure timely hardware arrival.
  • Coordinate physical installations with colocation providers and internal teams to prep infrastructure for hardware.
  • Serve as a central hub of communication among supply chain, facilities, and vendors to maintain deployment schedules.
  • Translate customer AI needs into clear deployment plans for hardware and facility teams.
  • Build repeatable deployment processes, identifying and resolving logistical roadblocks for efficient GPU activation.

Benefits

  • Hybrid working model allowing flexibility between remote and on-site work.
  • Opportunity to work at the cutting edge of AI cloud infrastructure development.
Full Job Description
We are looking for a Lead Technical Program Manager to lead the data center build-outs for our high-density GPUs. You will be a driving force between hardware vendors, Data Center Architects, and the end to end oversight of doing a GPU Deployment. You'll join a fast-paced team dedicated to scaling our Agentic AI Cloud, making sure our physical hardware is deployed quickly and correctly to meet our customers' heavy compute needs.
What You'll Be Doing:
  • Support hardware deployment projects for high-density GPU clusters, coordinating the steps from early site planning all the way through the final rack-and-stack.
  • Manage hardware delivery schedules tracking vendor lead times and working closely with the supply chain team to ensure servers and equipment arrive at the data center exactly when needed.
  • Coordinate physical installations by partnering with colocation providers, remote hands, and internal networking teams to make sure space, power, and cables are prepped before hardware arrives.
  • Act as the central hub of communication keeping supply chain, facilities, hardware engineers, and outside vendors aligned to keep deployment schedules on track.
  • Help translate customer AI needs like the difference between building for training versus inference into clear deployment plans for our hardware and facility teams.
  • Build repeatable deployment processes identifying logistical roadblocks and fixing them so we can consistently get new GPUs online faster.
What We'll Expect From You:
  • 10+ years of experience as a Technical Program Manager, successfully coordinating hardware, facilities, or data center infrastructure projects.
  • Strong understanding of hardware deployment workflows, ideally from working at a cloud provider, colocation facility, or specialized AI company.
  • Familiarity with basic data center concepts, meaning you understand the fundamentals of rack space, power limits, and cooling requirements needed for dense AI hardware.
  • A solid grasp of the procurement lifecycle, including tracking orders, forecasting demand, and managing long lead times to ensure hardware shows up on time.
  • Basic familiarity with the AI/ML hardware space, understanding why customers use GPUs and the high-level physical differences required for training versus inference workloads.
  • Experience with external vendor coordination, effectively working with colocation facility managers or remote hands to guide physical work happening off-site.
  • Strong risk management skills, with a proven ability to spot deployment risks early, whether it is a delayed hardware shipment or a facility constraint, and build plans to keep the project moving.
  • Cross-functional teamwork capabilities, acting as a reliable bridge between deeply technical teams (like network and data center engineering) and operational teams (like supply chain).
  • Proficiency in project management tooling, feeling comfortable using standard tracking and ticketing systems to document deployment steps, track hardware inventory, and report on progress.
  • Excellent communication and organization skills, with a proven ability to bring order to fast-moving environments and keep diverse teams focused on a shared timeline.
Compensation Range:

This position will be evaluating candidates for Lead Technical Program Manager / Staff Technical Program Manager based on prior experience
  • Lead Technical Program Manager role, the base salary range will be $148,800 - $186,000
  • Staff Technical Program Manager role, the base salary range will be $173,000 - $217,000

*This is a hybrid role



#LI-Hybrid

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